Phoebe Judge
👤 SpeakerAppearances Over Time
Podcast Appearances
And then, Buford was elected sheriff of McNary County.
Tennessee enacted the nation's first prohibition law in 1838, making it a misdemeanor to sell alcohol in bars and stores.
Even after the national ban on alcohol ended in 1933, Tennessee stayed completely dry for several more years.
The state eventually allowed individual counties and cities to vote on whether they wanted to allow sales of alcohol.
By the mid-1960s, more than half of the population of Tennessee still lived in dry areas, including McNary County.
Buford Pusser quickly gained a reputation for going after bootleggers, moonshine stills, and illegal alcohol sales.
In a raid in December of 1964, he seized almost 3,000 bottles of Kentucky whiskey with the help of state agents.
He told reporters that it was the largest amount of whiskey ever seized in the county.
He also raided bars and motels near the Mississippi-Tennessee state line, known for gambling and illegal alcohol sales, including one called the Shamrock Motel and Restaurant.
The Shamrock Motel and Restaurant was owned by Louise Hathcock, who had shot and killed her ex-husband.
She was known to be part of a loosely organized crime syndicate known as the Stateline Mob.
In 1966, tourists staying at the Shamrock Motel filed a police report after they said a purse containing $125 had gone missing.
Buford said that Louise's bullet had, quote, whizzed by my ear.
He said he dropped to the floor and fired three shots, hitting her in the chest, face, and neck.
The year after Buford Pusser shot and killed Louise Hathcock, Buford's wife, Pauline, was murdered.